Four days before the lead actor audition for mr. & mrs. smith, Helen Herman received definite news from the Crew. Brad Pitt had withdrawn from the audition for the role of John Smith early, citing poor physical health. The Crew also seemed to have developed a prejudice against him, showing no intention of trying to persuade Brad Pitt to stay.
As a result, Matthew's biggest competitor was declared out of the race early.
The shocking gossip involving Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, and Jennifer Aniston was intensifying. Brad Pitt had to appease a pregnant Angelina Jolie, prepare for his divorce from Jennifer Aniston, and launch a crisis public relations campaign to white-wash himself as much as possible, or at least maintain his image among fans.
Although Jennifer Aniston had declared she would not ask for a single dollar in settlement fees from Brad Pitt, the interests between the two parties were deeply entangled, especially regarding their joint venture, Plan B.
Compared to all this, the audition for mr. & mrs. smith appeared less important to Brad Pitt.
Regardless of how the gossip evolved later, Matthew ultimately achieved the result he wanted.
Of course, to get the role of John Smith in mr. & mrs. smith, he first had to pass the Crew's audition.
Matthew had prepared for this role's audition for a long time. In addition to intensifying firearms training and continuing combat training, he also rehearsed all the key scenes in the script beforehand with the help of other signed actors from Angel Agency.
With sufficient preparation, a lack of strong competitors, plus his suitable acting style and the box office performance of his three recent starring films, Matthew passed the audition hosted by Akiva Goldsman and Doug Liman very smoothly. He even performed quite well in a dramatic scene they set up.
After filming so many movies, Matthew's acting skills were still far from Oscar-level, but he wasn't without progress. Handling ordinary scenes in most commercial films wasn't very difficult for him.
When it comes to acting, practice does make perfect to some extent.
After passing the lead actor audition, Helen Herman immediately began negotiations with the Crew. As the lead actor of the film, Matthew naturally wanted to fight for some power.
"I've prepared two options for the salary: one is a base salary plus back-end profit sharing, and the other is a flat salary payment without profit sharing."
In the office, Helen Herman was explaining the situation to Matthew. "The Crew's budget is quite ample, and they are very confident in the project's success. I estimate the possibility of them accepting a base salary plus profit sharing is very low."
She said directly, "If the Crew pays the salary directly, my bottom line is $10 million. I will strive for more than $10 million, but don't get your hopes up too high."
Matthew nodded slightly. "I understand. I'm still a B-list star."
Sequel movies can naturally demand higher salaries. For non-sequel original works, it's somewhat difficult for a B-list star to get a salary of over $10 million.
However, it wasn't impossible. For example, when Johnny Depp filmed pirates of the caribbean: the curse of the black pearl, he secured a near A-list salary despite his B-list status.
This aspect also depends on the Agent's maneuvers and negotiation skills.
If he could get $10 million in pure salary for a single film, Matthew would be satisfied.
Helen Herman saw Matthew was deep in thought and asked, "Do you have anything to add?"
"Yes." Matthew nodded and said, "There's one thing you should try to fight for on my behalf. Hasn't the Crew started the auditions for the leading lady yet? I want the right to offer suggestions regarding the leading lady."
Before Helen Herman could speak, he added, "You've read the script more than once, Helen. This is a project that relies entirely on the support of the lead actor and actress. If I don't have chemistry with the leading lady, if there's no spark, the movie will likely be a disaster."
"I've already considered that." Helen Herman had clearly thought of everything. "In the initial negotiations yesterday, I mentioned this to Akiva. They've considered it too. The Crew scheduled the leading lady auditions after the lead actor's specifically to choose an actress who has good chemistry with the lead actor and possesses a certain level of star power."
As a producer, although Akiva Goldsman wasn't as successful as Jerry Bruckheimer and Sean Daniel, he still had rich industry experience. If Matthew could think of this, he could certainly consider it too.
Helen Herman then said, "In the subsequent negotiations, I will try my best to get you the right to participate in the leading lady auditions."
"Good!" Matthew nodded again.
In that case, he would have some say in the leading lady auditions.
He thought for a moment and asked, "Which actresses have Akiva Goldsman and Doug Roman invited to audition for the leading lady?"
"There are six I know of," Helen Herman said quickly. "They are Julia Roberts, Nicole Kidman, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Cate Blanchett, Gwen Stefani, and Aishwarya Rai."
Hearing these names, Matthew immediately filtered through their information in his mind.
Julia Roberts went without saying, she was currently a top-tier Hollywood star; Nicole Kidman, as an oscar best actress winner, was also firmly in the A-list ranks; Catherine Zeta-Jones was highly famous and could be categorized as low A-list or top B-list; Cate Blanchett was significantly less famous than the first three, known as Queen Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
These four were all popular Hollywood stars today, so Matthew naturally knew them.
But who were the last two? Gwen Stefani? He only knew Gwen Stacy.
As for Aishwarya Rai, the name sounded very Asian, and he didn't recall this name among famous Hollywood actresses.
Since he was confused, Matthew asked, "Who are Gwen Stefani and Aishwarya Rai? They sound so unfamiliar."
"Gwen Stefani is a female singer, but she occasionally guest stars as an actress and has been recognized by many," Helen Herman said directly. "Aishwarya Rai is from India's Bollywood, the 1994 Miss World winner, and has currently moved her career to Hollywood."
"No wonder I don't know them," Matthew muttered.
Since breaking up with Britney Spears, he hadn't paid much attention to the pop music scene. It was even more normal for him not to know an actress like Aishwarya Rai from India's Bollywood.
Helen Herman added, "These two were likely selected for auditions because Akiva couldn't refuse a favor. The chances of them passing the audition are small enough to be negligible."
"The other four candidates..." Matthew stroked his chin and asked, "Who does the Crew favor more?"
"Nicole Kidman," Helen Herman said flatly. "Akiva and Doug think her temperament is very suitable for Jane Smith."
Matthew frowned. It seemed Nicole Kidman wasn't very well-liked by North American audiences. The movie that left the deepest impression on him was The Others. It seemed she had been having bad luck ever since winning her Oscar, eventually falling to the point of playing female villains in commercial films.
This was enough to reflect that Nicole Kidman wouldn't do well later on, and most of the films she appeared in would probably be flops.
However, he didn't speak up. After all, he hadn't signed for mr. & mrs. smith yet. He would wait until after the formal contract was signed.
Now that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie could no longer appear in the cast of mr. & mrs. smith, Matthew was confident that his commercial box office draw alone wouldn't be worse than Brad Pitt's, and might even be much better.
A leading lady who could have a spark with the lead actor was quite important.
Matthew just felt that he had to find a leading lady he had chemistry with; Nicole Kidman was out.
If nothing else, the age difference alone was a headache. Nicole Kidman was a full thirteen years older than Matthew. Even if she injected enough drugs into her face, the difference would still be visible under high-definition camera lenses.
If it were reduced to a four or five-year difference, it would be much easier to handle.
Next, Helen Herman spoke more about the contract and role preparation.
To create realistic action effects, Akiva Goldsman and Doug Liman required the actors to be proficient with weapons and possess some basic knowledge of combat. Both the lead actor and actress would undergo systematic learning, with firearms training at least once a week.
The Crew specifically hired instructors who had served in the SEAL Team to teach simplified g.i. joe techniques and counter-terrorism. They would start from the basics, such as understanding weapons, shooting stances, and how to use them safely and effectively, then progress to moving through areas and shooting difficult targets.
Additionally, once the basic training was completed, they would learn how to rely on intelligence, adapt to circumstances, and remain calm under pressure during operations.
Although Matthew's skills in this area were extremely outstanding, he had no objection to receiving training again. Moreover, this would only officially begin after the leading lady was determined.
Not just action training, in the initial negotiations, Akiva Goldsman and Doug Liman also requested that Matthew learn some dancing during early preparation, especially the Tango, to handle the scenes where the lead actor and actress dance together during filming.
Negotiations for such a large-scale project wouldn't happen overnight. The final contract signed by both parties often spanned dozens or even hundreds of pages. Many of the clauses had to be discussed and negotiated one by one between the studio and the Agent representing the actor.
As the key element, reaching an agreement on the salary was not easy.
The studio naturally wanted to compress the actor's salary as much as possible, while the actor naturally wanted to get more income. This was a classic labor-management negotiation.
Matthew was very patient, continuing his planned preparations while waiting for the results of Helen Herman's negotiations.